"She was--she is. But Zara, the dancer----"
"Butterfly. Yes, I know. Go on."
"Well, she called on Prudence on the day my guardian was buried, and told her that if she married Ferdy, Mr. Clarke would be accused of the murder."
"What rubbish. Everyone knows that Osip is guilty."
"Quite so," said Clarice, slowly; "but I am beginning to doubt that, Anthony. I thought that there was no mystery about this crime, but from this letter and from the attitude of Zara, I begin to think that there is."
"H'm!" from Ackworth. "You believe that there is a conspiracy?"
"Yes, I do, and Sir Daniel has to do with it. Also Zara. The man wants to marry me, and the woman to marry Ferdy. But I had better tell you everything I have learned, so that you may be in a position to see things from your point of view."
Anthony listened carefully, while Clarice detailed her interview with Prudence, and also related what Clarke had said. "I am perfectly sure," she ended, firmly, "that there is some connection between Zara and Sir Daniel."
"I don't see that, Clarice--upon my word, I can't see it. Zara evidently went on her own, so as to get Ferdy to herself. Sir Daniel fried his own fish--if, indeed, that letter is written by him."
"I'll soon learn that," rejoined Miss Baird, putting the letter into the pocket of her dinner gown. "Then, I have to tell you something about Ferdy," and she related how the boy had attempted to bluff her, and how she had got the better of him.